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White Hart Tap is one of my favourite pubs in St Albans. It has been a tradition of mine to have fish and chips there on a Friday evening whenever I visited England in the past. So in order to carry on with this tradition, I went there on the day I landed in the UK for good.

Since my last visit, I realised that they have renewed their brand. I think the new brand design reflects the clientele of the pub and gives the pub an updated look and feel.

The inside of the pub does not look much different in terms of design. Perhaps this is something they are planning on a longer term.

About the Beer

I love beer in this country. None of that gas filled, glass frozen beer stuff. It is the real deal. They come from real kegs.

I learned that an organisation that promotes Real Ale is the reason why there are so many great ales in this country. Guess what? @Camra you got my attention and I fully support you.

The ales they carry @White Hart Tap are London Pride, Doom Bar, Landlord and Harvest Pale. They carry various types of beers. I had Doom Bar and London Pride and loved them.

As I experience more beer I will definitely write more about all them.

About the food

Fish and chips is a hot English dish, consisting of fried battered fish, and chips. This is one of Britain’s traditional pub foods.

Let’s talk about the fish and chips a bit. It’s the crowd favorite. It’s listed under their main menu. Check out the White Hart Tap menu here.

They are beer battered which starts the process. Their fries are hot cut and delicious. I do not like frozen, ready-made fries. I always suggest restaurant owners to go fresh. It is great to see that White Hart Tap is already doing so.

Owner here definitely follows fresh better philosophy. Of course the side dish options are peas. You can choose mushy or garden peas. What is the difference? Well, the tradition is to with the mushy option. I love peas generally speaking. I never had mushy peas before. I am not sure if that is the texture maybe but I love it with fish and chips.

Fish was great, crisp and nicely fried. Fries were delicious and you can tell they are not frozen as mentioned earlier.

Seasoning is the key. I did not really need to add anything to the dish for seasoning which was great because I do not enjoy dishes that are under or over seasoned.

Experience

I always thought this was a great pub and since my last visit it was, once again, as good as I remember it. This pub is one of the oldest pubs around. But even in an area like St Albans where there are more pubs per square meter than anywhere else in England, this pub gets your attention.

It is cute and dog friendly. Well maintained with outside sitting area as well. The large beer garden at the back and pre-organised BBQ weekends at the rear of the Pub brings additional life to the Pub during the Spring and Summer.

The staff is very welcoming and they know the regular local people by first name, which is a nice touch.

They welcome children to the Pub however they do not provide high chairs. I would not say it is a Family-pub as such but you get the families with small children coming over for Sunday roast dinner.

In the early stages of my pub adventure, I believe this place will remain to be one of my favorites. This is information I found as just a consumer. I know the owner Andrew Meredith and I look forward to find out more about the pub itself, food, drinks and their client base. I would love Andrew to join me in this blog too.

Did you know?

They have quiz nights on Wednesdays. Want to win some free cash? Here is your chance. You can also score free drinks as well.

Fish and chips are usually served on Friday nights. So, try to book in advance as seats will be sold out.

The pub is located close to the St Albans City Centre with postcode AL1 1QJ. There is plenty of parking availability around the pub, if you are happy to ‘pay and display’.

Hours daily: 12:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Phone: +44 (0) 1727 860974

Pictures are from @WhiteHartTap St Albans

Don’t forget to add your own thoughts and please keep it classy!

If you would like to know more about me and how I help restaurants, bars, pubs, coffee shops, the contact me at Spread Consulting. I am happy to have an initial free 1-hour consultation meeting about your food business. Get in touch today.

This is my first blog ever from the UK. My name is Unal – and yes it does sound different. Just a little background about who I am before I go any further.

Well I am a Turkish guy; born and raised until University years in beautiful Istanbul. I then moved to the USA and lived there for over 20 years. Last year I decided to move to the UK. Over the years, I have had the privilege to experience varied and diverse cultures.

I am foodie at heart, love to eat, try different food and drinks. I love going to restaurants, bars and now I am living in the UK, of course pubs; trying new dishes, embedding myself in the local culture and finding new favourite cuisines.

This eating habit and enjoying food accidentally got me into food industry during my College days in America. I was busy delivering Pizza until the late hours of the morning in a College town.

Now I am a Restaurant Consultant. Go figure. I have been working with restaurants for a long time in high level management, have even owned my own franchise. So, I understand the ins-and-outs of starting a food business, running a restaurant, managing staff, managing operations, stock management, branding; in summary an A-Z of the restaurant business. Over the years, I have been supporting food businesses to improve their client engagement and experience, develop customer loyalty, train their staff and support their overall strategy, including those that are eager to expend and open new units.

However, this blog is not just another professional review site. I aim to simply write about my own experience, and occasionally the views of other people I go with. I am not going to analyse every little thing about food, but also the general customer experience. Of course it may be difficult to take off my “Consultant” hat at times.

For the restaurant, bar or pub reviews, I will focus on the dishes I ordered, what I liked, what I think you should try if you go there, and what I see could be done better. We will have surprises on this blog as well as guest bloggers and industry experts. Of course, you are welcome to contact me with any suggestions you may have.

Living in St Albans, I am sure there will be lots of pub reviews but I will try to diversify my visits, meet with owners, etc.

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St Albans is in the heart of England. With 20 min train journey, you are right in the centre of London. Therefore it seems to be a rich, safe and a family-friendly, green commuter City with a high number of restaurants and pubs.

The Roman city of Verulamium, the second-largest town in Roman Britain after Londinium, was built alongside the Celtic settlement in the valley of the River Ver nearer to the present city centre. So there is a lot of history, including Roman ruins and the amazing St Albans Cathedral which is a great tourist attraction.